BERLIN, GERMAY.- The Berlin Auction House Villa Grisebach will celebrate twenty years of successful business with a whole series of sales in December 2006. Opening event for these Anniversary Auctions will be the Photography and Photo Art Sale on Thursday, November 30 - comprising a multitude of high quality works from international photographers. Highlights are going to be vintage prints by Tina Modotti ("Two Sisters, Mexico City", circa 1926, € 30,000 - 40,000), Martin Munkácsi ("Fred Astaire", 1936, € 12,000 - 15,000), László Moholy-Nagy (photogram, 1925 - 1928, € 10,000 - 15,000), Christian Schad ("Schadographie 120", 1975, unique photogram and collage, € 8,000 - 10,000), Margaret Bourke-White ("Paramount Studios' Puppet", 1937, € 6,000 - 8,000), Walker Evans ("Evans' Apartment, New York," 1960s, € 6,000 - 8,000).
A series of photographs by the legendary Farm Security Administration (FSA) shows a rural America during the 1930s Great Depression, captured by artists like Dorothea Lange, Russell Lee, Marion Post Wolcott. The group of "classical" photographs will be completed with works by Hans Bellmer (hand colored print for "Les Jeux de la Poupée", 1949, € 7,000 - 9,000) and Helmut Newton (Nadja Auermann for "High Mighty", American Vogue, Polaroid 1995, € 5,000 - 7,000).
Top lot of the contemporary section is Andreas Gursky's unique print "Untitled XV", 2005, the original print for the art-edition "Fifa - World Cup 2006 Germany TM", estimated at € 80,000 - 100,000. Further contemporary works are Sarah Moon's "Sascha for New York Times", 1990s, € 3,500 - 4,500; Hiroshi Sugimoto's "South Pacific Waihau", 1990, € 18,000 - 22,000 and "German Pavillion - Ludwig Mies van der Rohe", 1997, € 15,000 - 18,000, as well as two works by Michael Wesley from the series "American Landscape", 2000, € 2,800 - 3,200 each.
